You like your primary school playground arguments don't you? K Pop is good because it's better than you can do and if you call people sheep, it takes one to know one. What's next, Channel bags are great because I said it first and they just are?

You like your primary school playground arguments don't you? K Pop is good because it's better than you can do and if you call people sheep, it takes one to know one. What's next, Channel bags are great because I said it first and they just are?

So buying a Chanel bag makes a person a sheep. But you sir, a fashion rebel, what with your jeans and t-shirt or whatever. Yeah, never seen anyone wear that before.

It's not a playground argument. It's called "let he who is without sin, cast the first stone."

So you're either a sheep or a fashion rebel and there's nothing in between? You either design and make your own clothes with wool and cotton you've grown/raised yourself or you're just following the herd?

Luxury labels are still hiking their prices steadily here even though the won is rising. Luxury brands are already more expensive in Korea than anywhere else and also mysteriously failed to reflect the tariff benefits of the Korea-EU free trade agreement.

Italy's Gucci hiked the price of some popular handbags by 4 percent and wallets by a whopping 5 to 11 percent on Monday. Prada hiked prices of most products such as bags and wallets three times last year. And Louis Vuitton increased the price of leather goods by 3 percent in October 2012

The same month, Chanel hiked the prices of 20 items including fragrances by an average of 8 percent.

What is the price of a handbag up to now? A year ago, I saw this:

Ever-Popular Chanel to Raise Handbag Prices Again

Quote:

French fashion brand Chanel will raise handbag prices in Korea again. Chanel decided to hike the prices of popular handbag lines such as Classic and Vintage 2.55 by about 10 percent as of Feb. 1. The price of Vintage 2.55 Large bags will go up a whopping 11 percent from W6.63 million to W7.4 million (IS$1=W1,137).

This is the first time that a Chanel handbag is priced at over W7 million.

Chanel raises the prices of major handbag lines by about 20-30 percent a year. A Vintage Large bag cost W3.34 million in April 2008 but that had doubled to W6.63 million last December.

Immediately after the Korea-EU free trade agreement took effect in July last year, Chanel's prices in Korea dropped by about 3 percent. But consumers did not really benefit from the FTA because Chanel had already hiked prices by as much as 25 percent in May that year, right before the trade deal went into effect.

Some Chanel handbags have even been in short supply as traders and some savvy customers are hoarding them in expectation of the next price hike. A fashion industry insider said, "Chanel is raising prices several times a year under the pretext of a rise in raw materials prices. The company seems to have confidence that consumers will buy its products under any circumstances."

Personally, I think Koreans are generally very frugal with their money and you and others have extrapolated the extreme cases cited in the article to apply to the general population.

I think the western media is doing this a lot with Korea lately and I'm not sure why. I agree with what you said because the majority of Korean women I know are very price conscious. They have no shame in carrying coupons, using discount memberships, and can bargain much better than westerners. I almost feel like there is a sense of pride they have in managing money which probably comes from the domestic role they traditionally play here. I often get chastised by Korean women because I'm a lazy guy and I often don't take advantage of discounts. I would add that the girls here seem to be more intimidated by the presence of things like hand bags than western girls though. My friends that are girls from the west can easily shrug off a Chanel bag. It seems like the Korean girls that would never buy one still hold some kind of strange reverence for it.

But, there is a subculture of girls here that take materialism and idiotic spending to another level. I am all about quality products but a 5M won handbag is ridiculous unless you are pulling in a few million (USD) a year. There has to be a larger consumer base buying these than the one that exists in the USA. Chanel is going to jack the prices up as high as they can, and I guess in Korea that is very very high. The price hike alone is enough to tip the world off something is up with the princess girls here, they do take it to the next level.

Yeah they are able to buy it if they want, but in my opinion they are idiots for doing so. Unless of course, they are filthy filthy rich, in which case I'm just jealous.

Luxury labels are still hiking their prices steadily here even though the won is rising. Luxury brands are already more expensive in Korea than anywhere else and also mysteriously failed to reflect the tariff benefits of the Korea-EU free trade agreement.

Italy's Gucci hiked the price of some popular handbags by 4 percent and wallets by a whopping 5 to 11 percent on Monday. Prada hiked prices of most products such as bags and wallets three times last year. And Louis Vuitton increased the price of leather goods by 3 percent in October 2012

The same month, Chanel hiked the prices of 20 items including fragrances by an average of 8 percent.

What is the price of a handbag up to now? A year ago, I saw this:

Ever-Popular Chanel to Raise Handbag Prices Again

Quote:

French fashion brand Chanel will raise handbag prices in Korea again. Chanel decided to hike the prices of popular handbag lines such as Classic and Vintage 2.55 by about 10 percent as of Feb. 1. The price of Vintage 2.55 Large bags will go up a whopping 11 percent from W6.63 million to W7.4 million (IS$1=W1,137).

This is the first time that a Chanel handbag is priced at over W7 million.

Chanel raises the prices of major handbag lines by about 20-30 percent a year. A Vintage Large bag cost W3.34 million in April 2008 but that had doubled to W6.63 million last December.

Immediately after the Korea-EU free trade agreement took effect in July last year, Chanel's prices in Korea dropped by about 3 percent. But consumers did not really benefit from the FTA because Chanel had already hiked prices by as much as 25 percent in May that year, right before the trade deal went into effect.

Some Chanel handbags have even been in short supply as traders and some savvy customers are hoarding them in expectation of the next price hike. A fashion industry insider said, "Chanel is raising prices several times a year under the pretext of a rise in raw materials prices. The company seems to have confidence that consumers will buy its products under any circumstances."

compassionate people need 5 thousand dollar bags so they can feel good about themselves whenever they go to church or secular charity events and pledge 20 dollars to help feed starving refugee children.LOL

If they can afford the bag and maintain whatever lifestyle they please there is no reason to feel guilty unless the bags are made by exploiting people. Products are made by people with jobs, those jobs support families and allow other people to prosper as well. A lady supporting a local economy by buying a bag has nothing to feel guilty about, and if she wants to give some money to people that don't have a job then more power to her in that endeavor as well.

Only reason it would be ridiculous is if they are exploiting people or she is going broke buying luxury goods.